Tag: vegan recipe

Recipes

Soup soup! Autumn squash, pepper and lentil soup

Dr Nancy P

It’s definitely soup season now and we still had some homegrown squashes to use so I thought I’d make a batch of warming autumn soup.

You can use squash, pumpkin or sweet potato (or a mix) and you can also be a bit free and loose with the quantities to be honest – as long as you keep an eye on the amount of liquid and add a bit more stock if needed.

I made a massive batch so I could have it for a few days and also freeze some, but you could easily halve this. This recipe serves up to ten good portions at 163 cals per portion!

You will need:

Approx 1,200g squash (this was 2 medium squashes)

3 Red peppers

2 onions

500g red lentils

4 cloves garlic

800g chopped tomatoes

1 litre vegetable stock (but you may need to add a little more as it cooks)

2 tbsp tomato purée

4 tsp curry powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp Chilli powder (or to taste)

Salt and pepper to taste

To serve – fresh spinach and a dollop of greek yoghurt

Peel and de-seed the squash and then chop into small pieces.

Chop the onion and peppers and crush the garlic. Heat up a little oil in a pan and add the onions and crushed garlic, and allow to lightly brown.

Add the pumpkin and pepper, stir well and cook for 5 mins with the lid on (stirring occasionally). The squash will start to release some water and begin to soften a little.

Add the chopped tomatoes and stir well. Then add the lentils, vegetable stock, spices and tomato purée and stir.

Bring to the boil and then allow to simmer for a few minutes with the lid off. Then reduce the heat further and put the lid on and allow to cook for at least 20 mins making sure you stir regularly so the lentils don’t stick. If it looks like it needs it then add a little more stock.

Season to taste and cook until the squash is tender and the lentils are cooked through. Remove from heat and at this point. If you like your soup chunky you can serve it now.

Alternatively you can blend it to a smooth consistency.

To serve stir through some fresh spinach and add a dollop of greek yoghurt!

Enjoy! 🙂

Xx

Recipes

Easy Tomato chutney

Dr Nancy P

I was fortunate to be given a load of homegrown cherry tomatoes from a friend, and we had a a small harvest of our own so wanted to make something that would use a load of them. As the weather is starting to feel more autumnal I thought I’d make up a batch of chutney!

This is very easy to make but does take a long time to cook through! Allow at least 3-5 hours of cooking time (you can turn off the heat, cover it and leave it to continue later if you run out of time). This needs to be left to ‘ripen’ so should be ready for Christmas!

You will need:

1kg tomatoes (can be any tomatoes you like – even green ones)

1kg Bramley apples

900g onions

6 cloves of garlic

600g brown sugar

2 tbsp ground ginger

1/2 tbsp cayenne

1 tbsp salt

25g pickling spice

1.5 litres Malt Vinegar

Small piece of muslin or gauze and some string

Jars

Peel and chop the onions into quarters. Core and chop the apples into quarters or eighths if large, leave the peel on. Chop the tomatoes.

Place each of these into a processor and pulse until chopped into small pieces.

Place into a very large saucepan. Crush the garlic cloves and add them too. Stir well.

Add the ginger, cayenne and salt and the sugar. Mix well.

Pop the pickling spices in a small square of muslin or gauze, tie it up and then tie it to the handle of the pan so it hangs down in to the pan. Add the vinegar and stir.

Bring the mixture to a simmer and then turn the heat down and allow to gently simmer uncovered for at least 3-4 hrs.

This will take a long time so just let it simmer away. Depending how much liquid the fruit and veg contained it may take even longer. Stir occasionally. The liquid will evaporate off and you will be left with a thicker consistency (chutney like!) – when you draw a spoon through it will leave a trail.

Pop some clean jars in the oven at 50 degrees just to heat through. Pour the hot chutney into the jars, add a wax seal and plastic film over the top and then label and store for 1-3 months before eating.

Enjoy on your sandwich or with some cheese! 🙂

Xx

Recipes

Vanilla brekkie smoothie

Dr Nancy P

This is my brekkie almost every day – it’s easy to grab and go, and I make a batch of 4 or 5 so I don’t have to worry in the mornings. You can switch the protein powder for nut butter if you like, I use the powder because it helps to keep me full and gives a balanced brekkie for me. Don’t worry about the spinach – you can’t taste it at all, but it does give a load of extra vitamins and minerals and studies have shown it also helps to increase exercise performance so it’s worth including!

This makes a full large blender load (I use a vitamix which holds almost 2 litres) and I split that between 4 or 5 shakers, each is about 250 – 75 cals. I use frozen spinach for ease but you can use fresh too.

You will need:

2 bananas

1 litre of your milk of choice (I usually use light soya, but go for whatever you fancy)

2 very large scoops of protein powder (I use a vanilla one usually and the scoop is equivalent to about 2 heaped tbsp)

8 cubes of frozen spinach (or 2 large handfuls of fresh)

Large handful of ice

Pop it all in the blender, whiz until smooth and creamy. Pour into shakers and store in the fridge. I usually add a couple of cubes of ice in the morning just to keep it cool.

Enjoy! 🙂

Xx

Recipes

Green Goodness Protein Smoothie

Dr Nancy P

Starting today with this delicious, fully loaded, green glass of wonderfulness!

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If you’re worried about the kale and spinach – don’t be – you can’t really taste them. They just give the smoothie a lovely freshness and of course are packed full of fab nutrients.

I made up a batch of smoothie to last a couple of days so this will serve 2 – 4.

You will need:

3 bananas

2 cups of Almond/Soya milk

4 Tbsp Vanilla protein powder (I use About time vegan protein powder)

generous handful of Spinach

generous handful of Kale

handful raw Cashews

1 Tbsp Cashew butter (just to add a little extra creaminess but you could just add more cashews)

1 cup Ice

Optional – a drizzle of coconut syrup if you need it

Blend in a high speed blender and serve!

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Recipes

The Ultimate Breakfast Smoothie

Dr Nancy P

This is my go-to breakfast smoothie almost every day. It’s full of goodness and absolutely delicious. It’s so important to have breakfast but sometimes it’s hard to eat a big meal early in the morning, especially if you workout early. This smoothie is perfect pre-workout fuel – light enough to make sure you don’t feel sick but satisfying enough to keep you going. It’s great to grab on the go too. The protein powder keeps you full and the L-glutamine is great for muscle recovery.

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You can change things around with this – use different nut butters if you like, add other bits and bobs eg frozen berries, guarana, chilli powder, chia seeds etc but this is my favourite base.

This mixture usually makes 2 – 3 shakes and it’s fine in the fridge for a few days.

You will need:

2 cups non-dairy milk (almond, soya, oat etc)

2 large or 3 medium Bananas

1 tbsp Cashew nut butter

4 scoops of Protein Powder (I use About time Vegan Protein powder but you can use any you like)

2 scoops L-glutamine powder (optional but good for muscle recovery – I use Myprotein L-glutamine powder)

2 tsp ground Cinnamon

2 tsp Coffee (decaf or caffeinated – your choice)

1 – 2 tbsp raw Cacao powder

1 cup Ice

Sprinkling of Chia seeds

Put all the ingredients in to a blender and blend until smooth.


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Pour into glasses and sprinkle the chia seeds over or pour into protein shakers and pop in the fridge if not drinking immediately. Enjoy!

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